If you ever wished that you could afford to buy your way into Disney's Club 33, a finger on the monkey's paw is curling.
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Disney has tapped a screenwriter and production team to develop a movie inspired by the famed private club in Disney's theme parks. It's the latest effort to bring Disney Parks properties to filmed entertainment. Not all of these projects have made it to the big, or small, screen, but if this one does, all Disney fans finally will be able to buy a ticket to "Club 33."
But just to the movie, not the restaurant.
The trade said that 21 Laps Entertainment will produce. That production company has worked on Night at the Museum, Free Guy, Stranger Things, and the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, among many other titles. Darren Lemke is set to write the screenplay. He was one of the writers on Kung Fu Panda 4 and previously worked on Shazam and Turbo.
"The story centers on Kim, a young aspiring detective living in present-day New York, who receives a mysterious invite to the highly secretive Club 33," The Hollywood Reporter said. "In this case, it’s a magical and exclusive dining club that exists outside of time and space. The club’s members are the greatest and most iconic members from the past: geniuses, royalty and history-makers."
That last line sounds a bit like Disney's Society of Explorers and Adventurers IP, which has been set for a Disney+ TV series as well as a feature film, though neither of those have entered production, as far as I have heard.
Disney's Club 33 - the private restaurant - opened with New Orleans Square at Disneyland in May 1967, later expanding to locations at the four Walt Disney World theme parks as well as at Tokyo Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland. For decades, it was famous for being the only location within Walt's original theme park that sold alcohol. That changed, however, with the opening of Oga's Cantina in Star Wars Galaxy's Edge in May 2019.
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Existing IP delivers attention and (potentially) emotional attachment, but a great story and characters are still needed to be a success.
Jungle Cruise turning into a Pirates retread at the end, and Mansion - well, I am looking forward to telling you about an upcoming book that would have made a much better story than the latest Mansion movie. It still might make it to the screen, too.
This is truly one of the most bunny brained concepts I have ever heard about.
This is the kind of film I would have been eager to see about 25 years ago, but I've been burned too many times by Disney's adaptations of theme park attractions at this point. The plot to this doesn't sound dissimilar to the failed Tomorrowland film (which I enjoyed, but I have to admit could have been better, and I don't blame anyone who isn't a diehard Disney Parks fan for dismissing it).
Rumor has it that they are building an interconnected series of films based on several hospitality, utility and administrative facilities. Keep your eyes and ears open for imminent news about the gritty street level drama about the Transportation and Ticket Center on Disney+. This first phase of features and shows is tapped to culminate in the team-up of a lifetime: “Cast Member Avengers: The Battle for Reedy Creek”. Early spoilers point to a CGI mo-cap Ron DeSantis as the franchise’s Big Bad, with creative said to be developing a look that is a “cross between Alfred E. Neuman, the late John Ritter and a pair of khaki Dockers”. 2030 is gonna be a helluva year for Administrative Geeks and Bureaucratic Nerds everywhere.
When do we get our Admiral Joe Fowler big-screen adaptation?
I'd rather see the Adventurer's Club get a movie.
Fingers crossed for a People Mover show
Whatever happened to the Ryan Reynolds/Qui Nguyen flick ‘Society Of Explorers And Adventurers’?
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Didn't the "Jungle Cruise" and "Haunted Mansion" movies both lose money at the box office? If films based on 2 well-known, classic attractions didn't do well, why would a film based on perhaps the MOST niche attraction ever fare any better?
I don't know who the target audience for this is, but I do know that the vast majority of Disney theme park fans haven't been able to ever experience Club 33 and probably never will (myself included), so what's the point?